Draken Decumus Vladmirius
Birth and story "I am a sovereign member of the Order. A son of a proud history thats etched on every fiber of the Empire. This is all I ever wanted."-Draken. Draken was the first-born vampire to Alucardius and his mother who were both turned into blood-suckers. He was a oddity of nature even among other vampires as he and his sister, Raven. He was born a pureblooded vampire. A miracle thought impossible. Some claimed it was a deal his vampiric father and mother made with Clavicus Vile, other claims they were blessed by Molag Bal's favor. Although it was neve truly understood how Draken and his sister came to be born of Cyrodiilic strain. He was born in 3E 127 near the Imperial City. As he grew up, Draken was a tool of mockery of his manipulative younger sister, Raven who often made fun of him and brought out his worst of doubts. Draken often came to express resentment towards her, due to her title as the family prodigy and the favored sibling. The two did harbor mutual care for each another, but due to their earlier conflictions and contrasting views on life and it's goals, they cannot coexist together without an argument. Although Draken lived with his sister and his parents, he came to be the "black sheep" of the family. Being horribly chastised and doubted by his father. Draken came to be a man of hedonistic quality and debauchered nature. Often squandering his precious on women and himself, believing he had all the immortal time in the world. However, he still was forcebelly trained under his father who was a former swordsman for the guild of fighters when he was once human. Draken learned to wield the sword and learn Hand To Hand combat. He often sparred with his sister and his father and quickly was able to learn the way of melee. Although this was one section of the long and perilous teachings of how the Order of vampires should operate. Skill in sword and magic was one thing, but Draken was often told that deception and manipulation was a vampires greatest power. Yet he knew his father doubted his ability to eventually be heir to the family heirlooms and tradition. At the age of nine, Draken is curious, but also cunning. Alucardius was stern and but not overly sadistic with raising his child. But the penalty for failing in his lessons. with Alucardius present, was death, something Draken faced very early on. He succeeded under pressure, even as a kid. Draken was taken to a great lake in Nibenay, where his father explains to him what happens to billions of people who never imagined to do more than what they were born in to. Reffering it to a tragedy of life, without leaving behind a legacy. He compares the wild life as creatures who are born, grow eat and die, living in fear of predators in the process. Following his first lessons in life, Draken returns to his home in the shadow due to Alucardius having too many shoes to fill. While at home, Draken needed to learn how to maximize all of his physical and mental attributes sans vampirism. What Alucardius does, is instruct Draken that vampirism is their secret and that he is forbidden from ever using his powers or talking about it without his father being present and with his permission. While not as adept at manipulation and academics as Raven, Draken became quite smart. He became bitter rival to his sister and tried his best to gain favor from his parents as an heir to the treasures and family buisinesses. He began to demonstrate himself as a skilled strategist, able to exploit most situations to his advantage. This spawned sheer animosity towards him and his sister, so much that it began to worry the parents. Eventually, the two came to be mutual allies and often helped each other with their personal aspirations and problems. The ultimate goal for the "children" was to be members among the Order of vampires in Cyrodiil and be known as political favorites in the Imperial Palace, perhaps even the High Council itself. As the years passed, Draken and his sister realized that they both could be inherit all the family wealth and riches. He was influenced by Raven to form a plan to place his parent's under the earth locked up for an eternal slumber for all eternity. Their plan came to fruition when Draken and his sister were able to deceive and manipulate the elders to seek refuge under the manor's hidden passageway. After the goal came to be of success, Draken and Raven began to aspire in their respected goals. Draken joined the Mages Guild along with his sister to harness the power of destruction to better improve himself. While there, he came to disagreements with the other students and almost came to reveal his nature to them. He often locked horns with his sister along the way as well. When their true nature was revealed to the Council of Mages, they left the guild of Mages in fear it would compromise their ascension. Draken delved into Imperial politics and was able to climb himself up the ranks with subtle manipulation from his sister. This got him the attention from the upper lords of the Cyrodiil Order of vampires and Draken was counted amongst their own. Years passed and Draken nearly exposed the Order to the world as he almost formed a coup to overthrow the Empire. His plan however came to an abrupt halt when his sister interfered with his plan. Draken was influenced by his sibling's plea and came to understand that the strength of the Order was not in numbers, but in skillful manipulation of the hand of society. It came to be that his reputation among the vampire nobles was partially stained. But he grew to great lengths as to prove himself again by ending a barbaric vampire infestation from another province. Draken and his sister were able to quell the savage rivals and the newly created vampire hunters in a single stroke. By using disgusing as a wealthy nobleman with political power, Draken used the vampire hunters to wipe out the rival clans and then was able to lock them in a long lost fortress. Trapping them inside their graves. Rival Clans To Be written. Political Ascension "Power? You babble to me of power? You deserve no such thing. You deserve only contempt. Where where you when we took Cyrodiil as our stronghold? Where where you when we eradicated the intruding clans? Where were you when Our nights were filled with treachery and blood? Power belongs to those who earned it."-Draken. The history of the Order was filled with scheming politics and shadowy secrets--the lifeblood of the vampire. During the mid Third Era, many nobles attempted to reach the climax of power in the upper echelon of Imperial society. Treachery hid in around every corner of the Empire's darkest corridors and survival depended on a person's natural cunning and the desire to manipulate and defeat their adversaries and allies alike. Draken came to influence after the perceived "death" of his father, Alucardius. Draken and his sister were able to forge a false funeral, claiming their father to have died of sickness. Immedietly after his burial, Draken consolidated his power-base by using his sister's web of contacts and allies. He joined the Imperial College of Academics as well as the Mages Guild to increase his knowledge and power, while simotaneously forging relationships with key members of the Empire at the time. Draken came to marry a human woman who was daughter of a known and respected politician for the sole purpose of increasing his own influence. Listening to his sister's advice, Draken grew to be a famed and respected man with unblemished history. Crimson Scars "With Greywyn as our leader, we shall secure our rightful place under the watchful eyes of Sithis. Like a fog in the darkness, we shall strip the Dark Brotherhood from their craddle of power and take the reigns once...and for all."-''Draken. Fifty years passed and Draken was granted the attention from a darker organization. The Dark Brotherhood. He was asked to join and he did with a heavy heart. In his new faction, Draken became and trained to be an assassin. In his trials, he befriended a certain Greywyn Blenwyth and was inspired to aid him in a new group that was designed to overthrow the Brotherhood; The Crimson Scars. Draken came to learn new skills as a dark assassin, killing victims with his jagged blade. Eventually, the Scars were discovered for their betreyal and the Black Hand snuck in and slaughtered most of the Crimson Scars assassins as they slept. Draken and his sister were able to escape by simply loaning a farce ring of their own family to one of the fallen Scars a few days prior. The Dark Brotherhood mistook one of the assassins for them. That alone granted their escape. For the years following, they hid themselves by moving away from their old home and going to Skingrad were a new vampiric count was in place. They met with another survivor, Rowly Eardwulf and bought from him tools to help them feed in the quarters of their own home. They remained hidden and incognito from Mankind until the Dark Brotherhood was destroyed from within by a vengeful assassin named Matthew Bellemont. During the Oblivion Crisis, Draken and his sibling continued their way of life; Working among the Order's most trusted vampires such as Janus Hassildor to watch the borders of Cyrodiil from the prying eyes of the savage vampire clans from the other provinces and to manipulate society to meet their agendas. Affairs in Hammerfell ''"You will travel to Hammerfell and infiltrate the Yokudan society. In turn, you will notify us with whatever information that is of value." "To what end?"-''Draken. Draken spent most his his time cultivating his relationship with Ashanta, a yokudan woman from Sentinel living in Cyrodiil. Using her as a tool rather than a means for romantic attachment, Draken manipulated her into falling in love with him. In aftermath of her affections, Draken indoctrinated his personal beliefs and goals to infiltrate the Yokudan culture for promise of a better life. With a heavy heart, she accepted his offer and became a servant in the Sentinel palace. By command of his superiors in the Imperial Palace, Draken was tasked to undertake a covert mission to Hammerfell. His quest, to spy on the Yokudans and the Knights of the Nine and return an update to the Order. Unbeknownst to Draken, it was a plot to get rid of him in order to spare them the possibility of his meddling in important vampiric affairs. Upon discovering the plot, Draken decided to leave to Cyrodiil by making himself a stowaway. To his chagrin, the ship was a smuggler vessel transporting illegal narcotics and skooma from Sentinel to Anvil. Little did he know that they had to make a stop in Anticlere. Draken, thinking of ulterior motives to remain, left the ship and entered an inn called the ''La Riposte. ''Draken came to meet the proprietor of the establishment, who had a particular interest in him. Through an array of hidden messages, he spoke to the manager of La Riposte and was given some privileges including an offer he couldn't resist. Draken was given an offer to infilrtrate the Knights of the Nine forces stationed in Rihad, feeding the League of Shadows information and the day to day occurances of the Empire in exchange for more influence and a pocket full of gold. With careful mind, Draken accepted the task for his own sake and left for Rihad. In Rihad, Draken was given a place to stay until the conflict in Hammefell had abated. Eager to get his work started, he went to the Chapterhouse in Hammerfell to feed and procure information on recent updates. As he snooped around, he came across a woman named Lysandra. Skills in Destruction. ''"Fire:The bane of my existence. It is time my adversaries take equal share in my dread." Throughout his life, Draken became very skilled in the arts of Destruction magic. As a child, he could only summon small bursts of flame, but by the time he was older in his mid twenties, he was confident enough in his abilities to use them in the open against many students in the Arcane University in the mid century of the Third Era. His fire attacks have became more deadlier as he charges his spell before creating enormous blasts of fire. In his present years, he was able to create a raging inferno around him that could effect a seven feet radious without scorching himself in the process. With the spell tomes of destruction, Draken's powers where tremendously increased. He was able to use more of his magicka, unleashing fiery sheets of flame. He once engaged in a fight with a battle-mage, fighting with less strain while his opponent was shoved towards exhaustion and growing lack of confidence. He learned several mastering techniques: such as blocking large streams of incoming flames with short blasts of fire. Throughout his life, Draken became a proficient strategist, able to take advantage of most situations by exploitation. He also forms alliances with individuals with amazing skills and influence and uses them to his advantage. Although he shows these traits, he suffers from weaknesses of his own. He has a impulsive nature that caused him not to stop and think about his next actions, almost always resulting in failure. Master Duelist. Accomplished fighter. Aspirant assassin. "Draken is a master fencer. The clashing of swords, the spilling of blood. The impaling of an opponent. They are as natural to him as breathing." Draken was known as one of the most skilled duelists and fighters in Cyrodiil. His competitive spirit drove him toward one of the famous forms of fencing. Though he maintained an expert knowledge of other forms as well. In melee combat he used his blade to redirect and deflect enemy blades, rather than attempting to meet his opponent face-on, fending off opponents with a littlel expenditure of energy before unleashing fast and devastating counter attacks. Draken relied heavily on his footwork to outmaneuver his opponent, basing himself on balance and stance, back-and-forth lunges and leverage, and sudden retreats. Although his hand was of use for combat, Draken was well-taught in the art of "Verbal fencing". A tactic he learned from his sister that focused on disrupting an enemies concentration by the use of psychological negativity. Such as taunting and mocking, bit by bit exposing their inner doubts. Causing their emotions to slowly take over their conscious skill until the point where they make an inevitable fatal move. When facing larger opponents, such as Mages, he drew heavily his volatile emotions to augment his ferocity. Draken also combined his swordsmanship with martial arts and hand-to-hand combat abilities--a combination which made him a powerful fighter. And whenever he encountered a foe he could not defeat through his martial prowess, he would fall back on his tactical ways, outmaneuvering such enemies with psychological warfare. Phisically: Draken is pretty strong, quick and agile. He is capable of grand physical feats, such as jumping across walls, climbing very quickly, and running far distances in his forth stage of vampirism. He is skilled in martial arts adopted from the Elseweyr, able to break apart incoming wooden weapons like staffs and spears with his hands and legs. He also could disarm, subdue and knock out his foes. Stealth: Draken is good at infiltration and stealth but not a master. It is his lesser skill and relies more on his "Embrace Of Shadows" power than his light feet. Due to his dual nature, Draken conceal himself effectively for long periods of time if he gains the power after four days of starvation from blood. Personality & Traits " You can try and fool these people with that grin of yours, but I can see what lies behind the mask. I have read your heart, and I know how dark it is. I witnessed your hatred, and I know how deep it is. I've seen your hunger for power, and I understand how ruthless it is. And all of that will not bring you peace." = = Physical Appearance "Your brother is a handsome one. I am willing to bet young adolescent lasses everywhere find him irresistable. I sure wouldn't mind taking a bite out of him." ''"I am confident he thinks of you in equal manner."- ''Noblewoman and Raven exchange words. Draken was a stoic, four century old vampire. He adopts a regular, serious face and fierce yellow and red eyes which are framed by the locks of his wavy black hair. He has a clean-shaven face, absent scars or bruises. He is physically fit and standing slightly taller, about two inches, than his sister. He is known to be extremely handsome when recently fed, having regular colored skin for an Imperial and a wide smile attempting to seem polite. In the Empire, Draken was often sought after by the daughters of politicians and nobles, mainly due to his looks and his wealth. But even so, he had some skill when speaking to the opposite sex. Often seducing and luring women inside his home or somewhere where he could feed on them. When starved from blood, Draken looked very pale and dead. His skin white as snow and ash-like, his lips dry and greyish. His fangs are often seen when he spears in his fourth stage of vampirism. When well-fed, his fangs are in form of regular teeth which can fool even the most keenest of eyes. Category:Characters Category:The Knight, the Sword, and the Sentinel Category:Imperials Category:Vampires